Sad that Walter Cronkite (11/4/1916-7/17/2009) died. Used to watch him as a kid for as long as I can remember in the 1960s and 1970s. He always seemed like a reassuring, kindly, wise and avuncular dude, with his signature ending, "And that's the way it is" (even though everybody with a pulse must have known there was far more going on in the world than any thirty minute broadcast could ever cover).
Walter Cronkite had a clear, measured style, deliberately pacing his delivery so that every word would register. He was also a visionary, with a poetic and philosophical sensibility. To me, he represents the constancy of the evening network news (in his case, CBS) of growing up. After he retired in 1980, my by-the-clock-factory-schedule thirty-minute network news watching tapered off.
Thanks to the Iranian Hostage situation, Nightline flourished, as did special reports, and cable news, especially CNN, which began in 1980. Now the internet makes global perspectives easier to come by, which is how I prefer it. Walter Cronkite's death represents the end of a an era in news delivery, no question.
Today's Rune: Initiation.
5 comments:
With great respect to Mr. Cronkite, I hope we never again have one trusted voice. We need many voices. His two CBS "white papers" on the JFK assasination fully supported the insupportable conclusions of the Warren Commission, thus rendering further inquiry to a crazy fringe until the late 1970s when Congress opened its investigation which concluded there was a conspiracy.
A Democracy needs lots of voices and lots of people pursuing unpopular theories. This is the promise of the Internet.
interesting that he died so close in time to the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. Definitely the passing of an era.
Well you cannot say that he did not live a full life. 92 years old. Jeez.
Erik, Another icon leaves us. Peace out, Walter.
Thanks all, for the comments! Mark, will we ever know the whole truth?
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